Ties That Bind
by Never-Rebel
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple mission. Instead, it begins a series of discoveris that, perhaps, should have never been made. Especially when it threatens to alter Piccolo's life in a very unwanted way.
1. Blue Diamond

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Title – Ties That Bind

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Author – Jenna

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Disclaimer – I do not own Dragon Ball Z, nor will I ever. 

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Summary – It was supposed to be a simple mission. Instead, it was the beginning of discoveries that, perhaps, should have never been made. Especially when it could alter Piccolo's life in a very unwanted way.

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Chapter One

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Blue Diamond

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Dull, yellow lines extended in vertical and horizontal lines, creating a chart on the black screen. A brighter dot blinked annoyingly, the name underneath it labeling it Earth. A pale finger pointed to the blip.

"We have traced the stone to here: Earth. The inhabitants of Earth are called humans. They have poor power levels and should pose no problem."

"Boring! I don't care about the inhabitants, all I want is the stone. Egeg and yourself will take a small craft to the planet, find it, and bring it back to me. Kill anyone who gets in your way. Understood, Kuujo?" the one in charge said, seated in a remarkable throne, sounding cultured, throaty and rapacious.

"My lord, if you don't mind my asking, shouldn't we be taking a recon group along?" Kuujo inquired politely.

"Unobtrusiveness is the key!" he shouted, infuriated.

"Of course, forgive me, my lord."

Kuujo fisted a hand over his heart, bowed quickly and retreated from his lord's uncontrollable temper. His white tail, split in a way that suggested two, jerked about in agitation. White hair kept slipping out of its wrap, covering his eyes, and, irritated, he pushed it back.

Egeg soon followed him out of the room into the bland, poorly lit, metal corridor and Kuujo gave him with a cocky smile. In return, the purple, unfriendly, behemoth snarled. Completely used to this, he was unhindered.

"Prepare a mini-craft for the two of us. We will be leaving for Earth shortly," he clapped his hands enthusiastically.

An unhappy Egeg growled again as he trudged by, heading toward the ship hangar. Immediately Kuujo stopped smiling and turned the other way. He had a few items to get before they could leave.

*****

Ugly timeworn and tea-stained texts were cluttered onto an often-neglected wooden desk. They looked as if they had been rolled up for many years and tied together, the heavy paper torn around the edges. Satsu bent her snout closer, squinting her eyes to decipher a symbol that had been smudged and crinkled. She lifted her cherry bangs with an orange, furry hand to see more clearly and flicked her shaggy tail in annoyance.

"Ask them for a little information and they give me two hundred year old pieces of paper. This really is not what I asked for!"

Fife, who had been one of the many sandwiches stacked onto his plate, looked up, startled but not ignorant to Satsu's outbursts. His large, pointed ears throbbed with the loud noise, but he was used to it and said nothing of it.

"What's wrong?" he asked, honestly concerned, with a mouthful of bread.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Satsu commanded sharply.

"Sorry."

"Look at this, Fife. I should probably be using this crud as toilet paper!" she ripped the papers from the desk, holding them up and shaking them angrily. "It's all written in Indian! Indian!"

Curious, Fife got up, grabbing another sandwich, and looked quizzically at the texts. He raised his green brown ridges in confusion, seeing only lines that made unidentifiable pictures.

"You can read that?"

"No, but my decoder has been translating it."

She held up a black, rectangular box. The machine had two screens, one for putting in the symbols and the other for English translations, and an inkless pen in between them.

"And?"

His brown tail, which he liked to think of as somehow relating him to cats since he was so fond of them, wagged anxiously. He took a bite of his sandwich.

  
"It's a blue diamond, Fife! Imagine how much that could be worth. One million zeni. Or more! My father would finally be able to retire and get away from that little bug Garlic."

Satsu gritted her pointed teeth and her nails dug into the texts, threatening to rip the very delicate and antique papers.

"Uh, Satsu?"

"What?" she snapped.

"The papers," he pointed tentatively.

"Oh."

Calmly, she set them back down on the desk. Fife was hesitant to ask her anything in her current mood, so he took another bite of his food to let her cool off a bit. The atmosphere was odd now, but he was used to that too. He carefully swallowed his morsel before speaking.

"So where is the diamond? Does it say?"

Fife glanced at the papers as if the answer would pop out from the unreadable symbols. He gobbled down the rest of his sandwich and wanted to go get another, but since that would have been rude he stayed put.

"I'm thinking there's a cave in that mountain that you could always see from your cat friends tower. There used to be a tribe there that eventually migrated closer to your friends tower, which is mentioned in the papers. If we go now we can find it before supper."

Satsu grabbed the sleeve of his ninja outfit, which was a match of her own and rapidly being outgrown. He refused to wear the head covering and the boots that went with it, saying that they were uncomfortable, so he went barefoot.

"Can we visit Master Korin?"

"After we get the diamond," she said hotly and, seeing him go to the table for the rest of his lunch, added: "and only if we leave _now_!"

Innocently cradling three sandwiches in one arm, already eating one in his other hand, he followed her to the door. They leapt into the air and off; Satsu flying her fastest, eager and set on finding that stone that very day, and Fife making himself go slow, not wanting to lead.

Two hours later they spotted the cave and landed, both sweating and tired. It should have taken only one hour, but Satsu had gotten her directions mixed up on multiple occasions. She entered the cave without any problem or time to rest. Fife went in reluctantly.

"I can't see anything, Satsu."

In response, a small flame ignited in her palm, illuminating the cave. He offered his thanks, to which she snorted at. A few minutes into the tunnel, it branched out into three separate paths. Satsu grumbled and chose the one on the far left: the smallest tunnel. It forced her to stoop so that she could fit; Fife had to crawl.

They went on like that for some time, the roof getting closer to the floor as they went. Eventually she was crawling as well, slow and complicated because she had to keep one hand up for light.

"Diamonds shouldn't have meant that much to the Indians, you know that? A piece of raw meat was worth more to them," Satsu began, bored of the silence.

"So?"

"So it's weird. They called it a gift from their Gods. Tell me what's wrong with that picture."

Fife concentrated on the ground before him, avoiding any pointed rocks in the ground that would hurt if he crawled on them, trying to figure out what she was talking about. Completely ignorant of Indian culture and very aware that diamonds were held in high prestige, he found nothing odd about it.

"Hey, look."

Ahead, there was a hole that looked big enough for them to get through. Satsu poked her head through fearlessly, scanning the other side carefully. It looked spacious, large enough for them to stack themselves atop each other and still have enough room to fit. Since the light touched no wall, she assumed that it continued on. 

With the greatest of ease, she crawled through the hole. Fife was right behind her, squeezing his wide shoulders through. He braced his hands on the floor, trying to pull himself out, but his hips were too big to get through.

"Satsu! I'm stuck."

"Oh brother."

"Help me, please," he pleaded.

Despite her mumbling and complaining, she went over and hooked her arms around his upper body and tugged. When that failed to work, she planted one of her heavy boots on the wall, pulling with all of her strength and weight. He finally slid through and Satsu fell back, Fife landing on top of her.

"Get off me!" she hollered, unsuccessfully trying to push nearly two hundred pounds off of her.

"Sorry," he said and stood up.

Satsu got up as well, brushing off her outfit briskly and rekindling the fire in her hand. He smiled meekly at her, to which she turned her snout up at him and quickened her pace.

The chamber was circular for the most part and moisture covered the rocky yet smooth walls. Fife's oversized ears picked up on the sound of trickling water. He tripped over a rock that jutted out of the ground, stumbling forward into Satsu and hastily apologizing.

"I think this is it."

"Huh?"

He stared at the mound of squared stone that sat on a tiny island of rock, surrounded by an even thinner stream of water that tinkled from a small opening in the rock. The stand looked to be painstakingly carved with elaborate designs that strongly resembled the Indian symbols on the old texts. One the stand, in a brass platter that had dulled and tarnished with age, was a diamond tinged with the slightest hint of blue.

"I love when they mark the merchandise for me," she grinned.

By simply reaching over, Satsu grabbed the precious gem, which just fit into her hand. She made a face of repulsion at it, holding it closer to the flame for examination. It looked as ordinary as anything that had been chiseled off of a mining wall, not even unusually heavy.

"It's not even shiny enough for me to see my reflection in."

"Aw, Satsu, I think it looks kind of pretty," Fife said.

"You would," she snorted.

Fife put his face close to the stone, squinting against the heat of the flame. He touched it curiously, finding it cold and damp. Something moved inside the stone, like a flow of melted metal.

"Woah!" Satsu exclaimed, dropping the diamond in her surprise.

With a huff, she snatched it up and shoved it into the pouch she had brought along then retied it onto the sash around her waist.

"Is there any way out other then the way we came?"

"How would I know?" she said snidely.

They both looked about the room for another exit, Fife sticking close to Satsu. There was a large opening, placed so carefully that it could have very well been a continuation of the previous tunnel. Both welcomed the easy trek, which actually become difficult some distance in. The ceiling declined at a steep angled and the ground inclined upward slightly into a wide opening. Satsu fit in crawling on knees and elbows, while Fife was so big that he had to belly down and drag himself.

By the time they made it out, the sun had just begun to set. They were thirsty, Fife's stomach rumbled noticeably, and they were sore and fatigued. They sprawled out on the barren, hard ground outside to finally rest. Their eyes were open, staring up into a cloudless, darkening sky.

"What the fuck is that?" Satsu wondered aloud.

They both sat up, their necks craned back to watch. The glow that had surrounded the objects died and they only grew larger as the got closer. Satsu's eyes suddenly grew wide.

"Oh shit."

She scrambled to her feet, grabbing Fife, who had also begun to panic and get to his feet, by the elbow and pushed him behind a large boulder that was near their cave exit. She pushed him down and tried to cover his body with her own, smaller one. Several tense, terrifying moments passed. There were two painfully loud impacts that shook the ground, even from a couple miles away, and sent sand drizzling onto their backs. Then it stopped and everything went silent. 

*****

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Author's Note – I would like to thank WingedSiamese, and also give her credit, for allowing me the use of Fife and Satsu. They are _her_ characters and _not_ mine. This story idea was also originally hers as well, but it was discontinued, so she kindly gave me permission to use the concept. WingedSiamese is an incredibly talented artist and I will be putting up a link to her site later for those who want to see what these characters actually look like. If I put it up now, then a few things will be spoiled in this story. And that's just no fun. Also, be warned that her Fife and my version look very different, as I have changed some key aspects to make things a tad more realistic. 

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Planned Update – Unknown. I am working on this story as something to just kind of play and have fun with, something that's supposed to finish the story W.S. started and isn't ever going to finish. ;) I am juggling Determination, Another Life and Rebellion (and school) so who knows.


	2. An Old Tale

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Title – Ties That Bind

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Author – Jenna

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Chapter Two

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An Old Tale

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The hour was late and the sun had already sneaked away; the area was void of bright city lights, which let the stars shine in their radiant multitude. It was dark, though, with a moonless sky. On the Lookout, the closest structure to those shining stars, a small group had gathered. They were each there on the request of the elder Earth guardian Kami, standing at the mouth of the actual building where the light illuminated the ground. Their group was quite a unique sight: Goku and Gohan stood together, waiting for the others; Piccolo was leaned against a pillar, watching and listening; and Vegeta had distanced himself from them and had also taken position against a pillar, his arms folded across his chest. Krillen and Yamucha then arrived together, coming from the Kame house. They waited patiently, or agitatedly in the case of Vegeta, for Tien and Chaotzu, who arrived shortly later.

"So who are they, old man?" Piccolo growled immediately.

"I do not know," Kami shrugged, taking no hindrance to insult, "but I do know what they seek."

He took a long pause, and just as Piccolo was about to tell him to spit it out Kami continued.

"Are any of you familiar with the story of the Blue Diamond?"

"Well sure," said Yamucha, "its some old Indian myth. They believed that their Sky God, Sora Shinmei, had given them some great gift of his. It fell right from the sky, which is why it was blue."

"I thought you used to live in the desert," Krillen accused dryly.

"Well, yeah- as a thief. You got'a know what's worth stealing. That Blue Diamond is worth a good fifty million zeni," Yamucha said loudly, knowingly.

"Yes, the stone is quite valuable," said Kami, "but it is sought after for other reasons. It is true that the stone fell from the sky." The group looked at the elder guardian speculatively. "It was originally created on Namek, as an old Namek-jin tail says, by Akusa Gul. This was before even my time. This was a different planet then the peaceful one you know."

"Get on with it," Vegeta demanded.

Kami glanced at the Saiya-jin prince, not in a friendly manner, but warningly. Then he continued as if their had been no interruption. 

"The stone was created by the eternal dragon, as Akusa wished. It has the power to give someone immortality, though why he did not simply wish himself immortal is unknown, as were his intentions for the stone. He was then chased from Namek for summoning the dragon and he left on a space ship much like the one I arrived on Earth in-"

"We don't care about you," Vegeta grumbled. He was a poor listener, especially when it came to stories told by senile, old fogies that paused after every sentence to remember what they were going to say.

"-_and_ somewhere near Earth his ship exploded. The stone came to this planet, seemingly immortal itself."

A faint smirk lifted Vegeta's mouth and his brows were raised in intrigue. So the stone was on Earth, he thought with certain wickedness. He expected his sudden interest to go unnoticed, but he did not see Goku spare a glance at him. From a distance, though, his smirk was hardly perceptible and meant nothing; Goku had never been too perceptive, especially when there was no cause to try to be.

"The stone is disappearing out of knowledge, but it is apparently still sought after. There are two terrible adversaries here; and I'm afraid the stone has been found," Kami said slowly, seeming to grow tired at the end.

"They already found it?" Goku shrieked, wide-eyed and worried.

"No, no," the elder Guardian chuckled, "they are not the ones who found it. It is another pair, but they will not have it much longer if you do not go now. Bring the stone back to me- it must be destroyed," he commanded in a timeworn voice, conveying a sense of forcefulness and desperation.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Dawn?" Vegeta sneered.

Kami, managing not to seem rude, ignored him.

"Head toward the mountain range," he pointed, then returned both hands to his staff to support his weight.

The Z senshi leapt from the Lookout to soar through the chilly night air and through the blackness. Vegeta, surprisingly, was at the front of the unorganized formation. Goku, with the beginnings of a smile on his lips, flew to catch up with him.

"Hey, now that's getting into the spirit," he said cheerily.

"What?" Vegeta asked coarsely, as if somehow offended by any interaction with the other full-blooded Saiya-jin.

"I was just saying it's nice that you're actually acting like a team player," Goku explained brightly.

"Whatever, Kakkarotto," he mumbled, mentally acknowledging that the other man was, indeed, an idiot.

*****

By nature, Satsu was curious; by profession she was trained to investigate, among other things. She righted herself, shook her head, body and tail free of dirt, then headed in the direction of the crash site. Whatever had landed was clearly not two, perfectly round asteroids and she wanted to know exactly _what_ it was. She made to hurry off, but Fife grabbed her by the wrist with a firm grip. Satsu placed a hand on her hip and checked over him with a quick, practiced eye, though she appeared annoyed; he looked to be fine. Slowly her annoyance changed into a blank expression. The kid was utterly terrified.

"Don't leave me," Fife said pleadingly.

"Look kid, I'm just gon'na see what's going on. Come with me if you want," she said and began walking away again.

His hand moved into hers and her first reflex was to jerk away from it, but she felt sorry for him. Just a little bit. So she let the childish gesture slide this time and led Fife only a few feet before he collapsed. It had been a long, exhausting day after all.

Satsu, though she was worn out and her feet were just as sore, felt compelled to find out what was going on. With some half-hearted complaint and begging of her to take them home on Fife's behalf, he was taken back behind the boulder and rested against it, where he was instructed to stay. Then she took off at a light jog, trying to regulate her breathing, which came out heavy despite.

After several, dull minutes of jogging, with only her memory to rely on for aid, she stopped. Hills and tails grasses were ahead of her, which left a great lot of searching for her. There was no smoke or signs of impact straight away. She couldn't even be sure she was in the right area, or if it was much further out in some other direction. Satsu clenched her canine teeth and forced her aching feet to cooperate. In her weary state it was too difficult to actually walk up the hill, so she clawed her way up to the top with her rear in the air. Since it was considerably smaller than most, the view offered did very little to help. She slid down the opposite side and continued on over another hill.

A faint breeze whispered as Satsu trudged on, skimming over untrimmed grass and lifting leaves like it would a kite. Underneath her ninja suit her fur bristled; her sensitive ears picked up the sound of crunching grass, as faint as it was. It spoke to her as plainly as having someone breathing hot air on the back of her neck.

With the flare and finesse of a professionally trained master, she snapped around. She saw the mountain some distance away, but nothing more, which only made her warier. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and moved from left to right, scanning her surroundings in a well-practiced manner. The wind picked up again and brought with it a scent that only a keen animal nose would catch. It was a stale smell that came from unwashed clothing left in the closet for a good year or two. Satsu scrunched her nose at the unattractive odor and followed the trail it left. All she wanted to do now was collapse and sleep; instead she growled as she sniffed her way along. It was a way that was leading her back to the mountain. She would have headed back soon anyway and given up on the crash- at least until tomorrow.

The smell was quickly lost to her and Satsu plopped down where she was. Her mind was playing inane jokes with her, which put her in a cranky mood. Not to mention that she was getting paranoid. Why had she even gone out there? She could really care less by now, especially with her feet aching for a soaking in a bucket of steaming water.

An arm wrapped around her neck from behind, choking her mercilessly. Instinctively, her sharp nails went up and dug into the tough-muscled skin, which she registered as purple in color. She was plucked from the ground like a flower stem and her feet behind to kick for something solid to stand on. Satsu squeezed her eyes shut, opening her mouth for air but unable to inhale any.

Her surprise, or most of it, passed and she was left desperate and dangling. One hand remained gripped on the arm, trying to lessen any of the pressure, while her other reached back and found a stocky neck. Fire ignited in her palm and scraped over the flesh, scalding it. Satsu knew because of the rancid smell, and also because of the loud howl emitted from her attacker. She was dropped, sputtering and gasping; then she was on her feet. She got a glimpse of… whatever it was. A black-horned beast, bulging with obvious strength and radiating power. It held a strong resemblance to an ox- a very ugly one- in the general face structure and features.

But she was allotted no time to gape in the current situation; she turned and ran. She ran solely on adrenaline, but that wasn't enough. She was grabbed by the scruff of her suit collar and jerked backward, landing on her shoulders. The beast, now appearing even more monstrous in size and looks, grabbed her by the front and yanked her up viciously.

"Let me go, horn-head! I said let me go, you deformed bull!"

Rather than comply, which Satsu knew he wouldn't do, he moved his hand to her neck. She started to scream when a ball of light, painful to the eyes, rushed in and hit the beast. Again she fell to the ground and backed away as more bright spheres pelted and burst against him. Satsu watched, awe-stricken, as living shadows flew overhead. Some of them dropped like missiles to the ground in front of her. 

She had sense enough to get back to Fife, but something caught her eye that was worthier or her attention. She saw very well through the night, but she wasn't always prepared for what she would see. A healthy, leaf-colored skin, a bald head with two, obvious antenna and an imposing form; his ears were big and pointed on the side of his face, too big for it. A lot like Fife. Just like Fife, actually. Satsu gave her head a quick shake and cut off that road of thought, mumbling incoherently. She wasn't sure herself as to what was coming out of her mouth, but she had to get back to Fife and darted off to get him. Though, it was too difficult to shake the idea from her mind; the possibility was colossal and continued to nag at her for the entire walk back.

When she arrived at the boulder where she had left Fife, she was impatient. Satsu went behind to get him, but he wasn't there. She growled in frustration.

"Fife!" she called.

No response. That was really _not_ good.

*****

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Author's Note – I've got Fife piccies and Satsu piccies for everyone! XD The first two are by WingedSiamese, the ever talented artist, and the third is by me, the aspiring artist. It gives a nice picture of them now, doesn't it?

WingedSiamese's Fife Design - http://www.tailednamek.com/Artpage/art_fife_teen.html

Satsu Design - http://www.tailednamek.com/Artpage/art_satsu_design.html

Fife Realism Headshot - http://www.mediaminer.org/fanart/view.php?id=135666

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Update Date – *shrugs* I'm working on other stuff at the moment. Like the final additions to Determination. Then, I've also started Rebellion and have yet to post that. And I may be beginning Far From Home, a fic focused around Chaotzu and Tien (two of the most under-appreciated guys; hmph, their pasts are a mystery that I plan to delve into).


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